Monday, June 20, 2011

Custom Onesie Clothesline

To add a little bit of spunk to my friend's recent baby shower, I made a group of custom onesies and hung them on a clothesline near the beverage bar. Keeping with the "Bb" theme... each one said something a little different. And, our Bumble Bee (that also made an appearance on the invites, menus, and note cards) was again a major star of the clothesline:

They were a festive accent to the party... and in about 8 months, they'll make cute little outfits for the new baby.

This DIY project was super easy.

Here's how I did it...

I bought a 5-pack of white Gerber onesies at Michael's for $10.99...

And a pack of iron-on transfer sheets for $4.99...

Once I was back in my office, I opened the pack of onesies and got to work. On the computer, I created four different onesie designs. I used Adobe Illustrator, but any basic program would work (I've said it before, but Microsoft PowerPoint is a really versatile program that let's you import images, manipulate text, etc. You could easily use PowerPoint if you don't have any fancy programs like Adobe Illustrator)

So, here's what I came up with...

I created four designs-- repeating the Bumble Bee to create a symmetrical look and emphasize the "Bb" theme:

Then-- this step is KEY-- I flipped each image so that it would print out correctly onto the transfer paper. Flipping images in Illustrator is easy, but if you're using PowerPoint you'll need to go into "Format" and under the tab "Rotate" click "flip vertical". It's as easy as that. When you're done flipping, each one looks like this:

Load your printer with transfer paper, and hit "print". Once printed, I cut out each design, getting my scissors as close as possible to the graphic. I didn't want a lot of extra transfer paper around the design-- by cutting each image close, you'll create a clean transfer that's more professional looking.

Place each cut out with the image side down:

image is centered and ready for a hot iron

I ironed and ironed and ironed again. It took several sessions to get each image to stick.

once the transfer has completely cooled, carefully peel off the backer paper.

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about

Kelly Robson

High Street Market shop co-founder, interior designer, wife to Dave, and mommy to William and June. Living in Philadelphia, born and raised in California. Renovating a historic home and trying to enjoy all the beautiful things in life.